Legends Episode Ranking System - COMPLETE

[Purple Parrots Fan]

I figure it's about time I write another episode review. This time, it's "The Secret Battle Plan of Nathan Hale."

THE SECRET BATTLE PLAN OF NATHAN HALE

Credit goes to Nicklegends for the picture

MOAT: 6/10

For this moat, the players had to cross using the crisscrossing ropes, by hanging onto the upper rope, and walk along the bottom rope. This round was pretty average, nothing really noteworthy happened. The Silver Snakes, Purple Parrots, Blue Barracudas, and the Green Monkeys ended up advancing to the Steps of Knowledge in that order.

LEGEND: 4/10

The legend centered around Nathan Hale, who was the bravest young spy in the Revolutionary War. Hale was brought before the British Army leader, General Howie, who suspected Hale was a spy George Washington's Continental Army. Hale lied, and said he was a "dutch schoolteacher." The general didn't believe him, and asked Hale about the secret battle plan hidden in Hale's boot. Hale maintained that his mother was knitting socks for the soldiers and wanted to tell her where to send them. The general then asked what Hale's mother's name was, to which he responded "Mrs. Hale.... oops!" This revelation blew Hale's cover, and the general saw he was a spy after all and he was taken away. The secret battle plan disappeared not long after. I personally found this legend to be stupid. Very little is revealed about Nathan Hale's background, or the secret battle plan itself. All that happened was Nathan Hale's attempt to lie to the general about being a dutch schoolteacher. That's literally it. There was no real storyline at all, just some pointless conversation between Nathan Hale and the general. Definitely one of the weakest legends ever. Furthermore, after Olmec finishes telling the legend, the Secret Battle Plan is said to be in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. Not only was the artifacts location poorly voiced over, but we never actually see the Battle Plan in the Shrine. The artifact was obviously not originally planned to be in the Shrine. Hence why there's no "official" picture of the Battle Plan, not counting the spotting of it in the Throne Room and end credits.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

The Steps of Knowledge were a decent round. There were not very many wrong answers, and the teams were smart for the most part. Christina of the Silver Snakes and the Green Monkey boy were especially smart, and answered all the questions for their respective teams. The Green Monkeys were first to finish, after the Green Monkey boy gave a VERY long answer. Possibly the longest answer ever given on the show. The Silver Snakes followed suit, and joined them on the final step not long after. On another note, when the Purple Parrots gave a wrong answer during the round, the male Purple Parrot is clearly mouthing "damn." You can clearly read it on his lips.

TEMPLE GAMES: 6/10

The temple games were average for the most part. In the first game, James and Stacy had to grab pieces of Nathan Hale's maps, all while avoiding the swinging obstacles. A game that was used often in Season 2. Stacy got hit a lot by the obstacles, but James didn't have too much trouble. As a result, James beat Stacy 3-2, winning the game. In the second game, Christina and Kevin had to collect pieces of the British plan message "Attack Philadelphia," and place them in the correct order. Just before this game starts, you can clearly see the Battle Plan in the Throne Room. Now THAT was the actual artifact location, until it was moved to the Shrine for the temple run. Anyways, this game really should've been a tie, but Christina's misaligned piece of the message was counted as a loss. Never once did Olmec say "it has to be facing the same direction as the revealed message." Instead, Kevin of the Green Monkeys won the game, tying up the scores of the pendants before the final temple game. On the other hand, no way was Christina gonna beat that tall beast Green Monkey boy anyways. Seriously, he had to have been literally, the tallest contestant on the show. In the third game, the teams had to use the rotating levers to grab scrolls, and attach them to their shirts. The Silver Snakes on this game, giving them the full pendant, and winning them a trip to the temple with 1.5 pendants! Though the temple game score should've been 2-0.5 instead of 1.5-0.5, had that second temple game been called properly.

TEMPLE RUN: 3/10

We now go from Layout 1 of Season 2, featuring rooms like the Heart Room, the Throne Room, and the Swamp, to Layout 5 of Season 2, featuring rooms like the Room of the Mandarin Hand, Laser Light Room, and the Jester's Court. As for the temple run, it was extremely short. All you need to know is that James signaled back the half pendant to Christina in the Pit of Despair, and Christina failed to find it. And did I mention it was literally SIGNALED to her? You can even hear James say "Right here! Right here!" when he finds it. Needless to say, due to Christina's complete and utter inattention, a third temple guard puts an end to the temple run in the King's Storeroom, with a whopping 1:10 left on the clock. The team only entered a mere five rooms, in one of the quickest losses in the shows history. This whole thing could've easily have been prevented had Christina found the half pendant. This has got to be one of the, if not THE, worst triple capture ever on the show. Though Christina did move pretty slow, so I doubt this team would've won anyways.

FINAL VERDICT: 5.2/10

This was one of the most bizarre episodes on the show. From the strange voiceovers, different artifact locations, to the different layouts for the temple run. As you can see, this episode did not rank well at all. The legend and temple run mostly brought the score down. The main question is, how and why did this whole temple run postponement happen? My guess is there was not enough time to film the temple run, so Secret Battle Plan's temple run just happened to be the one that was chosen to be postponed. Quite frankly, I never believed in this whole "pots in the King's Storeroom" theory. I know the pots changed between temple runs (Silver Horseshoe/Golden Stallion), but for some reason, I just never believed it. Couldn't the production crew just run backstage very quickly, then replace the pots? It doesn't seem like a lot of work to do at all. I don't know, I just never believed this oh so popular, detailed "theory." I know it makes perfect sense supposedly, but I don't believe it at all. Either they ran out of time filming the temple run, or the players were too exhausted to participate (ala Belshazzar). I know I'm alone on this, so I guess it doesn't matter what I think. On another note, couldn't they just leave the Battle Plan in the same room space, aka the Laser Light Room for S2L5's temple run? Instead of giving it a half assed switch to the Shrine at the last second, couldn't they just keep it in the bottom central shaft? Regardless, this was a very poor, sloppily produced episode and I really don't recommend it at all.

[The Red Jaguars]

Thank you, I complete forgot about adding that episode last night.  It has been added, and we only have 12 episodes left for S1. I am purposefully trying to get rid of the forgettable episodes from that season since they are just plain average not very exciting. I know Blue Pearl, Sultan Saladin, Map to the Lost Gold Mine, and Galileo have not been touched. But I am saving those for later because they are one of the rare gems from that season. And believe, I hardly like many of the Season 1 episodes. 

Otherwise, Zenobia will be my next project that I hope gets posted this week. It is yet another forgettable episode I am hoping to get out of the way. I will probably work on half later tonight and finish the other half tomorrow. As forgettable as it is, I am actually interesting to see how it ranks.

[The Red Jaguars]

And I almost scrolled past your new episode review. "Nathan Hale" is an episode that I have not seen in a LONG time. The whole episode itself is very unusual for the fact that the layout unexpectedly changes. It is also one of the most talked about episodes for that reason. And the whole episode was average and forgettable. For the moat, I always thought that it was lame because this is the type of moat that they would use all the time in Season 1. Well, it was the first production day of Season 2 so I can cut it some slack.

And the legend was pretty dumb too. I know the story about Nathan Hale very well, and you expect me to believe that he blew his cover because he gave out his mother's last name? The editing was very bad too with the artifact location. It was obvious that the Shrine location was a voiceover, plus we never get to see the artifact close-up. The Battle Plan you posted is the one probably taken from the temple rundown. I am sorry, but the producers couldn't have edited that segment of the show again and use a close-up? It was a lame artifact anyways.

The temple games were very quirky too. And I agree with you about Christina's temple game should've ended in a tie. There were other temple games where players had to spell out a phrase, and as long as it was in the right position, then it counted for Olmec. In her case, the "IL" was simply upside-down. I really think that the production crew should've counted because they counted even sketchier calls than that one. For example, like Paula's team game from "Butch Cassidy". And that would've gave the Silver Snakes two pendants in the temple too. And yeah, the Green Monkeys boy was easily the tallest kid on the show. He was even taller than Brandon from "Blackfeet Chief" and Kristen from "Polynesian Girl". The episode was pretty decent up until we get to the temple run...  

The temple run was a very pathetic attempt, and I think this is the worst triple capture on the show. "Crown" and "Robert the Bruce" suck too, but this one is easily the worst. James signaled the half-pendant to Christina, Kirk shouted at her that she passed it up, and it was in plain sight. And Christina still fails to find it. Seriously, they deserved to lose after she passed it up. Even though they did get shafted in the temple games a little bit, there is no excuse for this final outcome. Even Kristen from "Polynesian Girl" passed her's up and found it without Kirk or Jim's help. This team wouldn't have won anyways because they only had 1:07 left and probably would've been forced into the Jester's Court. James should've gone into the temple second, or the temple outcome might've been different if they kept it in S2L1.

Overall, good job on knocking this episode out.   It was an okay episode all the way though the temple run. I actually wouldn't have been surprised if you gave the temple run a "2". It really sucked that bad and felt like a bottom 10 run. What makes this episode special is because all of the theories on why the temple run was delayed. We had the King's Storeroom pot theory, Christina was the one puked in the pit, the producers were time barred, or the contestants were tired and had some trouble. Whatever happened, this episode would be one of the biggest mysteries on the show. I think the only way we find out though is through an interview with one of the Silver Snakes.

Whew, that was a long write-up. But this episode is eventful and so much to talk about. You could literally talk about this episode for a couple of pages because so much goes on from the temple games goof to the temple run postponement.  

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Wait, you actually forgot about my review for a minute? Geez, you're losing it. And yeah, the moat for the first day of Season 2 was kind of lackluster. Thankfully, they got their act together the following filming day (Lost Love Letter/Bone Necklace), and came up with better moats. I totally agree about the artifact not having a close up. Couldn't the camera have panned over to the Battle Plan anyways in the Shrine? Either way, I personally hated this episode. It was just so sloppily produced due to all the problems the episode had. Man, your reviews on my episode are longer than the episode reviews I make myself. I was never a writer though, even for these episode reviews. I just like to keep things short and get straight to the point. You're right though, there is so much to talk about in this episode. Total word on everything you said above.

[The Red Jaguars]

Here is my episode review for "Golden Chains". I was honestly surprised by the score that this episode finished with. I don't want to spoil the score for you, but I had to be fair when I was grading every round. It probably deserves that score too considering how some of the rounds turned out.

THE GOLDEN CHAINS OF ZENOBIA

MOAT: 5/10

The first player in the moat had to paddle across the water to the other side while laying on the rafts with their bellies. Once they reached the other side, they had to tie the rope around their pole and their partners had to cross while using the two ropes on the pole. The first four teams to cross the moat will get a chance to move onto the Steps of Knowledge. This was just an average and uncreative moat in general. The four teams that made it across (Red, Orange, Purple, Silver) were the teams that were clearly favored because the Green Monkeys and Blue Barracudas were struggling very badly with this moat challenge. Nothing else to say here.

LEGEND: 5/10

Long ago in the ancient city of Palmyrene, there lived a very rich and very beautiful Queen named Zenobia. Caravans from the east traded silks, spices, and riches with Palmyrene. With the wealth from the trade, Zenobia built powerful armies and conquered Egypt, which was the home of her ancient ancestor, Cleopatra. The Pharaohs, who became here subject, sent her fantastic riches of gold and marble. The Roman Emperor was afraid she was becoming too powerful, so he attacked Palmyrene. Zenobia tried to escape the city on a camel, but she was captured by the Romans and made into a slave. Because of her beauty, she was held captive by the Romans while wearing golden-linked chains. The city of Palmyrene was abandoned and buried in the desert sands.  

Honestly, this wasn't an interesting legend at all. All it talks about was how beautiful some ancient Queen was and how she became captured. No interesting details like other legends to portray how strong Zenobia was or anything. I guess the ending was a little interesting where Zenobia was held captive until she died. It was just an average legend though.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 2/10

This was probably one of the most unexciting and awful Steps of Knowledge Round from Season 1. It felt like neither of the four teams wanted to be here at all. Plus, there were bad answers galore that were thrown out. The Silver Snakes themselves had 3 wrong answers, and every other team had 1-2 answers too. The Purple Parrots were the first team to make it to the Steps of Knowledge, and they made it rather easily. The Orange Iguanas eventually joined them since the Silver Snakes and Red Jaguars had no chance of making it.

TEMPLE GAMES: 2.5/10

This episode featured the very first matchup between the Orange Iguanas and Purple Parrots. In case you didn't know, the Purple Parrots never beat the Orange Iguanas at all. The Orange Iguanas featured Justin, 11, who enjoyed playing the piano, and Jennifer, 13, who has 10 cats at home. The Purple Parrots featured Chad, 12, who played 1B in baseball, and Tiffany, 11, and who enjoyed ballet and dancing. This was probably one of the most lopsided temple game matchups on the show. The Orange Iguanas absolutely dominated the Purple Parrots. The team game was very pathetic too, and the only reason this round didn't get a lowly 1 was because of the temple game sequence being slightly interesting. Otherwise, this round was very boring and one-sided.

Temple Game #1 - Wrap the Golden Chains

The Romans wrapped beautiful Zenobia with Golden Chains. In this temple game, Justin and Chad had to fasten four golden chains into four parts of the wall. To do this, each guy had to grab one chain and climb to the top of the wall and place it up at the top. Once they place one golden chain on the wall, they had to climb back down and do the same thing again. The first player that fastens four golden chains after 60 seconds will win. Chad of the Purple Parrots had bad luck in this temple game. He had his second chain on the wall before Justin did, but it fell off and he had to go back down and start over. The Purple Parrots would've easily won this game if it didn't happen. In the end though, Justin won 2-1.

Temple Game #2 - Zenobia's Gifts

Zenobia was so powerful that she received gifts from all over the Ancient World. Jennifer and Tiffany had 60 seconds to climb to the top of the ramp, grab one of Zenobia's treasures, and bring it back down to their bucket. The team with the most gifts after 60 seconds will win. Tiffany was pathetic in this temple game and she spent almost all of her time just trying to reach the top. She barely managed to get one piece of treasure, while Jennifer got 3 altogether. The Orange Iguanas head into the team game with one whole pendant.

Temple Game #3 - Rebuilding the City

Brace yourself, this is probably the most pathetic team game performance that you might witness on the show. Before I go into the inept performance, the premise of the temple game was that they had to grab a ring and climb up the pole in the center and place the ring at the top. When they were done, the second player had to climb up and do the same thing. The players had to work together and coordinate themselves while placing the rings at the top. The Purple Parrots problem was that Tiffany did not have the upper body strength at all to place her ring up. She spent 30 seconds at the top trying to get her ring on, before she makes a half-assed throw with it and misses the pole. But when her partner Chad tries to put a ring up, he isn't even able to make it to the top because he needed Tiffany to go back to the bottom of the pole. Justin and Jennifer dominated this game though, and they got all 8 rings on and won it with an 8-0 score. With the first temple game sweep ever, Jennifer and Justin enter the temple with 2 pendants.

TEMPLE RUN: 3.5/10

It always felt like that Season 1 temple runs had at least one runner who did not know what they were doing at all. Jennifer did find as a frontrunner for the most part. In the Cave of Sighs though, she failed to try the correct door to the Wheel Room. Instead, she chooses to go up into the Gargoyle Room and is forced along the upper floor. She eventually makes her way to the Treasure Room, where she is removed with 2:10 left. Justin was a very slow and clueless second runner though. It took him 30 seconds to reach the Treasure Room. The Treasure Room chest did not open for him though, and his only option is to enter the Heart Room. So what does he do? He wastes a good 50 seconds running in a loop between the Treasure Room, Heart Room and Observatory before realizing that he had to go down into the Room of Harmonic Convergence. Even after taking the correct path, Justin still manages to get lost with the other rooms on the bottom floor. -_- Kirk himself even shouted at Justin for stop hesitating so much, but it was way too late to give him this message. In the end, Justin's time ended in the Tomb of the Ancient Kings as he stupidly tried to open the door without the key.

Overall, this was a lackluster temple run and the Orange Iguanas brought this loss onto themselves. Justin was just a clueless and slow second runner. In this team's defense though, the Treasure Room was utterly useless. Why wouldn't it open at all in this scenario? It would've made perfect sense for it to work. This was just as boring and mediocre temple run with no much good to say about it.

FINAL VERDICT: 3.6/10

"Golden Chains" was a very mediocre and piss poor episode overall. None of the rounds ranked higher than a 5, and some of those scores were lenient too. You might not hear too much about this episode because no one really talks about it, but it really isn't a good episode at the end of the day. The major letdown rounds were the temple games and temple run. The temple games were very one-sided and it was clear that the Orange Iguanas were going to be favored for the temple run. But then again, the Orange Iguanas were not that great of a team in the temple games either. The temple run sucked too thanks to Justin. Overall, this episode is utterly boring and forgettable. I don't recommend this episode at all because it was mediocre all around. I guess watch it if you want to see it for sake of completion, but there is no other reason to watch it at all.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Wait, why did you use the third temple game picture twice? Did you take any pictures of the temple run? But yeah, this episode is nothing special. Even though the Orange Iguanas sucked at the temple, it was better that they went since the Purple Parrots had no coordination whatsoever.

[The Red Jaguars]

Time for another episode review, and this time it is the beloved Charles Lindbergh. And since you guys say that this is my favorite episode, I felt like I should go back and rewatch and actually write something about it. I actually forgot about how decent this episode was up until the temple run. The temple run easily makes this episode look really bad.

THE MISSING WEATHER MAPS OF CHARLES LINDBERGH

MOAT: 6/10

The first player in this moat had to take their floating ring and use the ancient fallen rod above them in order to reach the other side. It is not required for the player to hold onto their ring while crossing, but it will make it easier for them if they don't lose it. Once they made it to the other side, then their partners then had to cross the same way. The first four teams that made it across will get a chance to move onto the Steps of Knowledge. This was a close moat and the teams actually crossed it pretty swiftly. The moat idea was definitely original too, and I like how the players are not penalized for losing their rings either. In the end, the Silver Snakes, Orange Iguanas, Red Jaguars, and Purple Parrots all made it across the moat in that order. And all of the players hit their gongs around the same time too.

LEGEND: 8/10

Charles Lindbergh was one of the most famous pilots of the 20th century. In 1927, Lindbergh attempted the first solo flight from New York to Paris. He built a new plane, and named it "The Spirit of St. Louis." Legend has it, before the plane took off, a weatherman gave Lindbergh some weather charts for his journey. Lindbergh flew his plane for 33.5 straight hours, and he even fell asleep at the controls once too. When he woke up, he had flew off course and sheets of heavy ice had formed on the wings of the plane. The snow was so heavy that it could've snapped the wings off the plane. But the wings held and a few hours later, Lindbergh found his way to the Eiffel Tower as he made it to Paris. Thousands of people turned out to see him, and he became famous. Lindbergh donated his plane to the Smithsonian in Paris, and his Weather Maps got lost and made their way to the temple.

For the most part, this legend was about one man's personal achievement. As a result, this legend was more like a history legend then an actual plot with a spin added by Legends. So for once, there was no bad voice acting, useless characters, and bad dialogue. What makes this legend more interesting is that it is the only episode to use live footage for the legend. So instead of stationary images and made-up pictures, most of the legend is actual video footage taken during Lindbergh's expedition. I wish Legends did this more often on the show as it made the legend more interesting. However, this was usually not possible because most of their historical figures were before live footage existed.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

Aside from one question getting answered incorrectly during the Steps, there is not a whole of bad things to say at all. These kids were smart during this round, and we even get a three-way tie on the second to last step. Kim on the Red Jaguars was pretty impressive too because she answered two tricky questions correctly before Olmec revealed any of his choices.

TEMPLE GAMES: 6/10

The temple games featured the Red Jaguars facing off against the Orange Iguanas. The Red Jaguars featured Kimand Nick and their opponents featured David and Kim. (Yes, both girls names were Kim). The temple games were slightly above average for the most part. The Red Jaguars dominated the Orange Iguanas, and actually managed to sweep them. It wasn't very interesting though to see such a one-sided matchup. On the other hand though, this episode featured a rare temple game that was used only one other time in Season 2.

Temple Game #1 - Spin the Giant Spinners

In the first temple game, Kim² had to spin a giant wheel with Olmec's face on it by running on it. Each time they made a 360 degree turn, then they will earn one point. They had to be careful and not spin the wheel too fast or else they will fall off. The player that earns the most points after 60 seconds will win. Kim of the Red Jaguars kept a fast pace throughout this temple game, and she dominated it with a score of 15-9.

Temple Game #2 - "Spirit of St. Louis"

Charles Lindbergh named the plane he used to fly from New York to Paris, the Spirit of St. Louis. In this temple game, Nick and David had to spell "Spirit of St. Louis" on a sign by grabbing pieces of the word and placing it on the sign on the other side. The player that spells out the "Spirit of St. Louis" or the player with the most letters spelled out after 60 seconds will win. Both Nick and David were neck-and-neck during this temple game, but Nick was able to finish Lindbergh's plane's name first before his opponent. This temple game was one of the rarest temple games of Season 2. The only other episode it was used in was "The Applewood Amulet of Emiliano Zapata".

Temple Game #3 - Deliver Mail

In the past, airplanes were used to deliver mail to other houses and business. In this temple game, each player represented one wing of a plane and they had to deliver mail to the rest of the country. One player had to jump up and grab one mail bag and deliver it to their team bin. At the same time, their partners had to jump up and grab a mail bag also The players that deliver the most mail bags after 60 seconds will win. Despite being pretty sloppy in this temple game, the Red Jaguars were still able to deliver more mailbags with a final score of 10-8. The Red Jaguars enter Olmec's temple with two pendants, and having completed their very first temple game sweep.  

TEMPLE RUN: 2/10

There is nothing more frustrating than watching a temple run that should've been an easy win. What makes this temple run more frustrating is that we actually had a chance at seeing a Dark Forest win, but it was all lost thanks to Kim. Nick was an amazing frontrunner in the temple. After spending 30 seconds in both entrance rooms of the temple, he really started to haul ass through the rest of the rooms. Like in the Laser Light Room, he pulled all of the blocks off with both hands and in the Jester's Court, he swiftly aligned his body against the wall paintings. He was removed in the King's Storeroom with more than 2 minutes left. Kim was the epitome of what you did not want to see with a second runner inside of the temple. Seriously, she failed very bad and tried as hard as she could to make sure this team would not win. She was slow as hell, kept backtracking into the wrong direction, and did not know what she was doing. Once she slowly makes it to the King's Storeroom, she backtracks to the Observatory instead of entering the Shrine. -_- Inside of the Shrine, she looked like a tard trying to assemble the Silver Monkey. She kept fumbling the pieces and did not know which piece went with the correct part. After assembling the Silver Monkey, she still had enough time to reach the Missing Weather Maps! What does she do instead? She runs into the Room of the Secret Password and passes the Dark Forest door. -_- When she catches her mistake, time was already up as she enters the ladder leading to the Dark Forest.

Overall, this was a bad temple run in my eyes. Despite the progress and how close the team came to the Dark Forest, this temple run finishes with a "2" for one person alone: Kim. She was a horrible and clueless player inside the temple. This should've been an easy Dark Forest win, but Kim had to blow it. It didn't matter if she was the frontrunner or second runner, this team would've still lost thanks to Kim.

FINAL VERDICT: 5.8/10

"Charles Lindbergh" is one of those episodes where one round ruins the whole episode score. For this episode though, it was the temple run unfortunately. The disappointing about this temple run was that Kim was actually a good contestant before entering the temple. She got two questions correctly in the Steps and dominated the temple games. Aside from the temple run, I enjoyed the rest of the episode. The live footage during the legend and the unique temple game sequence made the earlier rounds enjoyable. However, the temple run is very frustrating to watch. If I had to nominate a temple run that pissed me off the most, it would be this episode right here. There is nothing more frustrating than a win that is blown by sheer stupidity and incompetence. I would recommend this episode to anyone, but do not watch the temple run again after your first viewing. It is so frustrating and it pisses me off to no end.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Silver Snakes, Orange Iguanas, Red Jaguars, and Purple Parrots all made it across the moat in that order.

Wrong. It was the Green Monkeys, Orange Iguanas, Red Jaguars, and Purple Parrots. And you just watched the episode too.

The only other episode it was used in was "The Applewood Amulet of Emiliano Zapata".

"The Mask of the Man in the Iron Mask" had the exact same temple game concept too. So there were TWO other episodes that featured that game.

Anyways, I'm literally shocked how Missing Weather Maps got such a high score. I've only seen the full episode once, and I hated every second of it. I guess only the temple run was bad. Kim really did ruin everything. I think we can all agree she had no business being on the show, much less make it all the way to the temple. Nick carried the team through the whole episode. Such is most Red Jaguar episodes, where almost every episode from them is bad.

[The Red Jaguars]

Before 2013 is over, I want to post at least one more episode review. I want to end this year with a bang, so I chose a solid episode - Galileo.  I wanted to post it on Christmas, but I got sidetracked by all my gifts and work. It was an amazing episode and I love this episode. It was totally worth watching over again. And with this episode complete, we are 75% done with this project and 30 episodes remain. 

GALILEO'S CANNONBALL

MOAT: 7/10

In one of the very first moats ever, the six teams had to cross the moat by using the Pharaoh's staff and paddle boat to make it to the other side. The first player will take the staff and pull themselves across by using the rope over their heads. When they made it across to the other side, then their partners had to cross the same way by using the staff after they send it back to themselves. The first four teams that made it across will move onto the next round. For being the first moat crossing on the show, I have to admit that this was the best moat used for Season 1. I liked the idea of the using the staff to make it across the moat. It is better than most of the lame S1 moats where the players had to walk across a rope to make it to the other side. The teams also did good in this moat, so I have no complaints about it.

LEGEND: 6/10

Galileo was one of the most brilliant scientist and astronomer of all time. He was one of the first people to perfect the telescope and use experiments to prove his discoveries. One day, Galileo came up with an idea of dropping two different sized cannonballs at the same time. He theorized that they both would hit the ground at the same time. To test his idea, he climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and leaned out over the edge and dropped the two different sized cannonballs. Both cannonballs landed at the same time, proving Galileo's theory correct. But that's not all... Legend has it that the two cannonballs landed on two cheese and pepperoni sandwiches, which in turn invented pizza.

This was one of the most ridiculous legends on the show. The legend started out with pretty good factual information and it was interesting for the producers to build up Galileo's theory about the cannonballs dropping at the same time. But why on Earth did they add the inventing pizza bit? You can tell that they forced this part in the story because Olmec paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. It ruined the legend and made it sound corny. Even Kirk thought it was lame and he shakes his head too. This was a decent legend too until the pizza part. As lame as that bit of the legend was, I didn't give this round a lower score because the pizza line was so bad that it was funny. Kirk's reaction makes this legend very memorable.

STEPS OF KNOWLEDGE: 7/10

The Steps of Knowledge for this episode was pretty much all about the Silver Snakes and Green Monkeys. The Silver Snakes were very smart, and swept the Steps with the first three questions asked by Olmec. The Green Monkeys answered the next 2 questions correctly, the Blue Barracudas answered one correctly, and the Green Monkeys got the last answer correct. This round was kind of one-sided with the two teams above, but there were a couple of highlight moments. First off, the Orange Iguanas chimed in for one of Olmec's questions, but just an "I don't know" answer. And after Jammin John and Jennifer the Silver Snakes got all three questions correct, they tried to give each other a high five and both of them missed.

TEMPLE GAMES: 6.5/10

The temple games featured Jennifer Holtz and Jammin' John of the Silver Snakes. Notice how Jennifer puts a lot of emphasis on Jammin' John's name? Maybe she had something for him in this episode. Their opponents included Kevin and Beth of the Green Monkeys. This episode featured your typical Season 1 temple game. Climb up a shaft, climb up a slippery ramp, and work as a team to assemble something. The temple games were kind of one-sided too. But what makes this temple games round a little special though was Kirk's annoying commentary. Seriously, it was way off and made no sense. Other than that, this temple games round was slightly above average.

Temple Game #1 - Drop the Cannonball

Kevin and Jammin' John had to repeat Galileo's experiment by grabbing a cannonball and climbing to the top of the shaft. Once they reached the top of the shaft, then they had to throw the cannonball out of the top. The first male player to throw all three cannonballs out of the shaft after 60 seconds will win. Despite losing his cannonball one time, Jammin John easily dominated this game and won the Silver Snakes their first half-pendant. Kirk also seemed to have a fixation for balls to during this production day. One of his lines during this game was, "Jammin' John knows what he is doing with those balls." Really, Kirk? Do you ever rewatch your old episodes and listen to yourself?

Temple Game #2 - Jupiter's Moons

One of Galileo's discoveries included discovering that Jupiter contained four moons. In this temple game, Jennifer and Beth had to climb up the ramp and place a moon on Jupiter. They had to repeat this process and the player with the most moons on Jupiter after 60 seconds will win. Both girls had trouble in this temple game, and Beth was the only player to get one moon on Jupiter. At one point, Jennifer took her moon and tried to through it at her Jupiter but missed. Both teams have a half-pendant a piece entering the final temple game.

Temple Game #3 - Galileo's Telescope

In the final temple game, both players on each team had to work together in order to assemble Galileo's telescope. To do this, one player had to grab a piece of Galileo's telescope and place it on the top. Then they must climb down and have their partner repeat the same process. Both players had to work together though in order to help each other reach the top. The player that gets the most telescope part at the top after 60 seconds will win. It only took the Silver Snakes 30 seconds to fully assemble their telescope. So with 1.5 pendants, Jammin John and Jennifer earn the rights to enter Olmec's Temple. 

TEMPLE RUN: 8.5/10

Jammin' John and Jennifer were the first temple team to ever enter Olmec's temple, and they began it on a positive note! Jennifer was kind of a slow frontrunner and got lost in the easy rooms. In the Throne Room, she got lost after sitting on the Throne. She tried exiting through the temple guard's door, but the temple guard directs her to go up. You can even hear him telling Jennifer to go into the Heart Room. After getting her head together, Jennifer slowly makes it to the Shrine where she is removed with about a minute on the clock. Jammin' John was a very fast and smart second runner, and Kirk kept referring to him as the "anchor". He followed up on Jennifer's path very well. In the Shrine, he kind of got confused with the room objective since he was trying to look at the would be "Treasure of Anne Bonny" chest in the back of the room. After assembling the Silver Monkey, John is forced to take the Mine Shaft elevator. After grabbing the cannonball with about 40 seconds on the clock, John decides to climb up to the upper floor and races back to the temple gate. As he nears Kirk and Jennifer, the Cannonball slips out of his hands but he grabs and brings it back to the temple gates with one second to spare! This results in the first temple victory ever in the show's very first temple run! 

Overall, this win was very enjoyable and exciting. This was also one of the best wins from the first season of the show. The ending was pretty exciting and Jammin John was a great contestant. The Silver Snakes really opened the show with a bang. The only thing that kind of drags this run down though is Jennifer's clueless parts of the run, plus the run is kind of awkward too. Kirk's commentary is very flat during this run, and the temple was too dark too. I didn't deduct too much though from since this was literally the first temple run ever. You cannot hold any of this stuff against Jammin John and Jennifer.

FINAL VERDICT: 7.0/10

"Galileo" was a very memorable episode and totally worth the watch. Don't be turned off by the awkward early Season 1 edits and Fogg-ups. This episode is a classic and a MUST WATCH for any Legends fan. I have enjoyed this episode since day one too. Every round of this episode was fun to watch from the Silver Snakes dominance to the very first temple win. The legend of this episode also sticks out in my mind too for being both lame and for both Kirk's reaction. The temple win is also very enjoyable, and Jammin John and the nailbiter ending start the show off in an amazing way. Yes, you must watch this episode for the reasons above. You will be missing out on a lot if you don't. And after you watch this episode, check out Jennifer Holtz's interview posted on the King's Storeroom. It provides extra details about this episode that is not seen on camera. Definitely a supplemental read along with this amazing episode. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Galileo's Cannonball was a very exciting episode. From the ridiculous legend (you know when even Kirk is laughing, you're in trouble), to the nailbiter temple run. Besides the interview, wasn't there some site that gave a minute by minute commentary on the whole episode? I know it was posted in the Spam Topic at least once. And I also liked the moat for this episode. I know it was rather simple, but I liked the concept of pulling yourself across the moat via King Tut's staff. I also liked the "Aztec Footboard" moat used in the Cricket Cage/John Sutter filming day too. Speaking of John Sutter, you totally need to review that one soon. That episode is just as great as Galileo.

Overall, great review. And we're already 3/4 done with this project? Awesome, had it not been for me, what number would the reviews be at?

[Purple Parrots Fan]

And by the way, there's a slew of production days that are in need of averages. The S1L5, Silver Horseshoe, Metal Beard, etc. are among the completed days we have done. I just thought I'd let you know that in case you wanted to update the averages.

EDIT: Here are the days that need to be recorded:

- S1L1's filming day (With Galileo just recently completed)
- S1L5's filming day
- Silver Horseshoe's filming day
- Freydis' filming day
- Metal Beard's filming day

When you can, you can that list whenever, unless you want me to do this.

[The Red Jaguars]

Believe me, you have helped me A LOT with this project. This is all of the episodes I have you down for:

Plumed Headdress
Grandy Nanny
Moccasins
Missing Portrait
Leonardo Da Vinci
Dead Man's Hand
Oracle Bowl
Nathan Hale
Ivory Elephant
Mysterious Manuscript
Henry Hudson
Golden Pepperoni
Belshazzar
Butch Cassidy
Ahmed Baba
Dr. Livingstone
Madame Tussaud
Mush Pot Hat
Dolley Madison
Lost Lariat
Icarus
Sforza
Great Seal
Sir Gawain
Freydis
Metal Beard
Billy the Kid
Ivan the Terrible
Chandragupta
Pirate Captain
Emiliano Zapata
Annie Taylor

That is 32 episodes that you have helped with or about 1/3 of the completed episodes. Without your help, I wouldn't be half-way done. You helped me out a lot and we are almost done. Over the weekend, I am going to try and organize the episode list on the first post a little better. I won't reveal what I am doing to do yet, but it will make the episode list look much better.  I will also make a separate column for who completed which episode too. 

I can update the production day ratings too in the same post I did the past ones like the Empress Eugenie/Ruby Earring post. We only have 30 episodes left too, which is not bad at all. I go back to class on January 21, so I want to try and knock out 10 episodes by then. My next project will probably be a Season 3 episode, most likely War Fan or Useless Map.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Sounds like good stuff. Who would've thought me chiming in with this thread (when this thread was all yours) would turn into this huge project? Of course, this was all your idea, so you definitely deserve some of the credit. I know I've been slacking big time with the episode reviews. But I just don't feel like doing it as often as I did over the summer. Besides, your reviews are much better. Mine looked incredibly half assed compared to yours. =/

[The Red Jaguars]

Sounds like good stuff. Who would've thought me chiming in with this thread (when this thread was all yours) would turn into this huge project? Of course, this was all your idea, so you definitely deserve some of the credit. I know I've been slacking big time with the episode reviews. But I just don't feel like doing it as often as I did over the summer. Besides, your reviews are much better. Mine looked incredibly half assed compared to yours. =/

Half-assed? No, your reviews are perfect, short, and highlights the main point. That was my main purpose of this thread in the first place. I stole this idea from a video game forum, where the user who did the same thing for different levels in a game series (Tomb Raider). His reviews were just like yours. I always write way too much stuff anyways too. I am guilty of this both on this forum and in real life. Also, if you look at my old reviews like Belle Boyd and Iron Mask, they were very short and each round was a couple of sentences long and no longer than a paragraph. I get carried away when I am talking about these episodes too. If I wrote my episode reviews like Belle Boyd and Iron Mask, then I would be near done.

But I know these are not easy at all and I don't blame you at all for not writing them. They can be pretty time consuming and it even takes me days at times to write them. You don't know how painful Smashed Printing Plate or Zenobia was to write. Galileo took me 4 days also, but that was because I was kind of procrastinating too. We are almost done, and I have no complaints out for any of these episode scores. 

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Video game reviews huh? Sounds interesting, I can only imagine the reviews for games like OOT and MM. I bet those are pretty well written too on the other forum you're from. And your reviews are very well written. Nobody can put as much detail as you can, all the way down to the teammates on each episode, the temple games, and the temple run. And of course, don't forget the screencaps. Which are the most vital part of every review. Even the player rankings you did were spot on. That scoring system pretty much laid the foundation for this thread. Since it wasn't about just scoring players, we were scoring the individual rounds.

And I can't imagine having to review painful episodes like Smashed Printing Plate and Blackbeard. Episodes I won't even touch with a 10 foot poll. My reviews are usually written in hour, and by memory. Even if I haven't seen the episode in a long time. But I've gotten so lazy in writing my episode reviews since I have little to no interest in the show as of right now. I appreciate your support though, and I'm glad you like my reviews. If I do write another review, it will probably be either Dried Apple Half (barf), Lily Crested Crown (double barf), or Gordian Knot. I've had those episodes claimed for a while, so I might as well do them. I can't believe we're almost done too. And this thread was started over a year ago too. That's amazing.